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Dueling Democratic Delegate Counts

3794622The day after Super Tuesday found Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at odds over who won in the delegate count: both sides claim they're ahead in the race that will truly determine who wins the Democratic nomination.

"By winning a majority of delegates and a majority of the states, Barack Obama won an important Super Tuesday victory over Senator Clinton in the closest thing we have to a national primary," Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, said in a statement. "That's why he's on track to win Democratic nomination, and that's why he's the best candidate to defeat John McCain in November."

Obama's campaign released a spreadsheet breaking down the Super Tuesday results that showed their candidate winning the night, 845-836, and leading overall in the race for pledged delegates, 908-884. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to secure the nomination.

Clinton's campaign sees things differently. "Hillary continues to lead Sen. Obama in the race for thousands of delegates and superdelegates nationwide," the campaign said in a morning e-mail.

So who's actually in the lead? According to the CBS News delegate count, Super Tuesday was literally a draw, with both winning 715 delegates. (Note, however, that many delegates from those contests have yet to be allocated, so the math there could change.) When one factors in previous contests and superdelegates – the party leaders and elected officials who can back whichever candidate they want, and change their mind at any time – Clinton leads, 974-906. If superdelegates are removed from the equation, Obama leads, 778-763. (Click here to view the CBS News Democratic delegate scorecard.)

Obama's count ignores superdelegates, while the Clinton campaign includes them – so both campaigns' claims are true, because they're using different measuring sticks.